From the back cover:
"Life is not safe for Alem. His father is Ethiopian, and his mother Eritrean - and with both countries at war, he is welcome in neither place."

Reserved for the Two Worlds Virtual Book Box started by loveamystery.

On its way to the Netherlands.

I was working in the garden, and came indoors because it had started to drizzle. Just nipped out to the postbox, and found 'Refugee Boy', with a beautiful Greek stamp on the envelope. Thank you Okyrhoe for sending it. I'm very curious to read it, as I've read some of Benjamin Zephaniah's poetry and seen him on television, but this is the first time I've read a novel by him. I will have to wait a while to make his acquaintance, though, as I have about eight ringbooks and a couple of rays which all arrived within the last six weeks or so.

This book is a quick and easy read, and I enjoyed it very much. However, the subject matter is not easy, and many important issues are raised, including war, persecution, treatment of refugees, and at a more personal level, subjects such as bullying and teenage dissatisfication with life are also touched on. The book itself is the simply-told story of Alem's life after he arrives in England and his experiences in a children's home, with a wonderful foster family, at school, and with the government and independent agencies which deal with refugees. But it provides much food for thought, and would be a great book to read with a class of teenagers, with plenty of issues to provoke discussion. Even though many terrible things happen, Alem himself is a fantastic role model as he he remains courageous and hard-working throughout, and it also has a very positive view of teenagers and the positive force for action and change which they can be.

I will ask if either of my teenage sons is interested in reading this, and then pass it on as a ring in the Dutch forum, or possibly give to one of the (English) native speaker teachers I know.

Reserved for the 'Eerste pagina VBB' (Dutch first pages virtual book box).

Taken to the biggest Dutch BookCrossing meeting of the year at Strandpaviljoen Zoomers in Castricum.

This book has been released as part of the following BookCrossing challenges:
- The Ultimate Challenge - read and release books, with extra points for a monthly theme
- Reduce Mount TBR (To Be Read) - read and release books on the TBR list since before the end of 2014. My reading goal is 36 books.

It sounded interesting, so I took it with me.

I didn't realise it was a children's book. I found the subject matter interesting, but it didn't really touch me, I wasn't all that invested. Also I found Alem to be a little too perfect and his father sometimes a bit frightening. But I'm aware that those feelings might be, because of my prejudices.

To the meeting.